Sunday, August 21, 2011

Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip

I know there's a good bit of summer still left but I'm already looking forward to a change of season and all the flavors of Fall. Caramel apples always bring Fall-ish thoughts to mind. Growing up, my mom would buy those caramel apple kits from the grocery store. The kits came with those flat sheets of caramel that we had to stretch and wrap around an apple with a popsicle stick stuck in it. Then we'd heat them in the oven, while waiting in anticipation for them to be ready to bite into. As a kid I thought those apples were the best thing ever, even though the caramel really stuck to my teeth. I haven't had one of those apples in years but I still love the caramel and apple combo. This dip is caramel apples for grown-ups. It has all the things you like about a caramel apple layered between sweet cream cheese. It's creamy, caramely, goodness with a little chocolate and toffee thrown in for good measure. It's seriously good stuff. This cheesecake dip looks pretty on a serving plate, which makes it a great to serve at parties. Plus unlike those caramel apples we'd make as kids, you won't have any caramel stuck to your teeth!

Method:
This is the method is to make a layered dip, for a quick method see note below.
Line a six inch cake pan or springform pan with plastic wrap. Use enough plastic wrap to hang over the sides of the pan about 2 inches.

Place softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the bowl. Add the heavy cream and powdered sugar, mix well, until smooth. Place half of the cream cheese mixture in the lined pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. (If you dip the spoon into warm water before you start to smooth the cream cheese, it will be much easier to spread.) Spoon on a layer of caramel. Sprinkle with a layer of chocolate chips and the Health pieces. How much you use is up to you but don't go to overboard or you may have trouble spreading the top layer of cream cheese.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff!

Place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. This will let the caramel set up a bit and make topping it with the remaining cream cheese much easier. Scoop the remaining cream cheese on top and smooth out using the back of a dampened spoon, like you did for the first layer. Fold the overhanging plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight. Pull back the plastic wrap so that the top of the cheesecake is exposed. Place a serving plate on top of the pan and invert. Remove the pan and the plastic wrap. Spoon caramel sauce over the top of you cheese cake and top with more of the Heath pieces and chocolate chips. Place the sliced apples around the dip and serve.
*Note: If you want to throw this together super fast, just spread all the cream cheese on a serving platter and top with the caramel, Heath bits, and the mini chocolate chips.

Method:
Place sugar in a small heavy sauce pan. Pour water evenly over the top. Turn stove top to medium-high heat. Hold sauce pan by the handle and swirl occasionally until sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to high, and boil until syrup turns brown around the edges of the pan, about 6-8 minutes. Swirl the syrup occasionally until it turns a deep amber and just begins to smoke.
Remove pan from heat. Add butter and whisk, until all butter is mixed in. Stir in cream. Take care adding the butter and cream as the caramel will boil up and sputter quite a bit.
If sauce has any lumps, set pan over low heat and stir until smooth then turn off heat again.
Stir in vanilla and salt.

That looks like my kind of indulgence! I really love it. Even minus the apples, but I guess it's a good idea to have to sort of break the richness of the cheesecake. But seriously, I'm loving this cheesecake even by just looking at it. I will definitely try this one! :)

Mmm, this looks so good. I love how the dip isn't the main component, but the apples are. However, the dip looks so good that I could just eat it plain. I've never ever tried cheese cake and caramel, but with this recipe, there's always time for something new!

Looks really yummy and I'll definitely try it sometimes! :) One thing though, these Heath/Health (both come up) milk chocolate pieces, do you mean Hershey's Heath Milk chocolate toffee bits? I'm not familiar with american brands but this is what came up when I tried google'ing it...

I make something similar to this, but way easier actually (and that's saying something because this is pretty foolproof!)Spread cream cheese on serving dish, squirt caramel topping (I could make it but I have 4 kids, bottled is good enough for me!, plus it's not like we eat this every day!) on top of cream cheese, sprinkle skor bits, dip apple slices, and die of deliciousness!

Hi Siri, Sorry you had trouble with the caramel. I'm not sure it tasted bad after you got it out of the pot except that maybe it had a reaction to the metal that the pot was made from. I used a stainless steel pot for mine, which is non-reactive. A bitter tasting caramel usually means that you over-cooked the sugar. Hope that helps!

I took this to work today for a potluck...after we ran out of apples, people were spreading it on brownies! This was SO amazing...all my co-workers wanted the recipe. I can't wait to to take it to bunco.